Warhammer 40K: Two Decades of GW Daemon Princes
Today look back over 27 years at the history of Games Workshop Daemon Prince minis over the decades, as we celebrate the Chaotic scions of Be’lakor.
We are starting with the current Daemon Prince miniatures and start rolling the clock back with each earlier version. As with all things Chaos, these minis striddle both sides of Warhammer; 40K and AoS/The Old World
Daemon Prince Basics
Daemon Princes are former mortal Champions of Chaos who have been elevated to daemonhood by the Gods of Chaos. They have bartered their humanity for unearthly power and immortality.
In order to attract the attention of their patrons, Chaos Champions have to perform great and terrible deeds. They sacrifice enemies and allies alike for their ambitions and risk their demise at the hands of both their foes and gods. The few that manage to avoid death and spawndom are changed beyond recognition.
While Daemon Princes come in various shapes, most are of hulking stature, displaying numerous mutations such as horns and wings. Even more notable are the supernatural powers they wield, some of which are associated with their patron god. What they maintain of former selves are the driving ambition and ruthless cunning which helped them earn their ultimate reward.
In the 41st millennium, most Daemon Princes hail from the ranks of the Chaos Space Marines, warriors with the capability and motivation to slay the populations of entire worlds, although the oldest managed to ascend during the savage age long before mankind left ancient Earth.
Daemon Princes rule supreme over mortal Chaos followers and are usually granted reign over a Daemon World of their own. Despite this, it is not uncommon for them to leave the material plane completely and join a daemonic legion in order to serve as right hand of a mighty Greater Daemon or even as that daemon’s commander. For all their rank and power however, real Daemons commonly regard them as inferior due to their human origin, a belief that is very rarely proven, as many Princes have slain powerful Daemons long before joining their immortal ranks.
2022 – GW’s Current Daemon Prince
After 12 years of the previous dude, the current Fantasy/40K plastic Daemon Prince (scroll down) showed up. He is a worthy model, with all the Daemon Prince options we expect. He can be used in 40K or Age of Sigmar, high-tech and low-tech weapon options, wings or no wings, and lots of Chaos pantheon-themed heads to choose from. What’s not to like? He’s also not too big, so there is a clear separation in scale between these plastic dudemen, and the much larger Greater Daemons.
2021’s Be’Lakor
The Dark Master returns after almost 20 years with an all new plastic mini that does not dissapoint. We also appreciate that Primaris Lieutenant we got for free on his base! He certainly got unveiled with some heavy metal style!
New Be’lakor is a true monster, about the size of a Bloodthirster He’s kept his “wings & chains”, and his sword is now dripping with magic flames.
The First Plastic Daemon Prince – 2010
We had been smashing face with this guy for a dozen years from 2010 to 2022. The plastic Daemon Prince is an awkward kit with a fixed pose, and a lot of optional parts, so you can use it in both 40K and Fantasy (now Age of Sigmar). It’s hard to modify the pose, but it’s flexible enough to get the job done. The 40K versions, in particular, are based heavily on the metal GW designs that came before (scroll down). Based on those smiles, these guys love their work on the tabletop.
Remember my original box?
Forge World Aside – Nurgle Prince – 2009
We are taking a quick detour for Mamon, the Nurgle Daemon Prince that came out during the Forge World Siege of Vraks trilogy. It’s a good model, but if anything, it added just another mini to the Nurgle Prince selection, while the other three powers got nothing.
Nurgle Daemon Prince – 2006
This is an interesting one. The kit is essentially a “formal GW conversion” of the then-current 2002 metal CSM Daemon prince. It was heavily based on a one-off Nurgle conversion that previously appeared in a GW publication.
This model initially appeared in metal – before switching over to Finecast. Compare its bits to the CSM metal Daemon Prince below.
Be’lakor – 2004
The original may be from slightly before 2004, but this is the earliest hard-confirmed year we could track down. This is a Juan Diaz sculpt, like the CSM Prince below. It’s a fine piece, visually distinctive with good posing, and is the quintessential Daemon for Warhammer.
Not an enormous model, but large enough for its era.
Chaos Space Marine Daemon Prince – 2002
This was a phenomenal miniature 22 years ago. It got a full page splash image in the CSM 3.5 codex of its time, and it was a quite large and heavy piece. This was also the work of Juan Diaz, and you can see the clear connection between it and 2006 Nurgle Daemon Prince by comparing the bits:
This is the oldest of the Daemon Princes that you may still see on tabletops from time to time. But is not the original.
Daemon Prince – 1997
Now we step into the REALLY Oldhammer side of Warhammer. Both for 40K and Warhammer Fantasy – for the first of its kind. This is a Trish Morrison design and is quite spindly and full of many little, fiddly parts. It’s a bit on the smallish size, but that is completely normal for this era. Similar to the EPIC titans, this original Daemon Prince mini has a lot of options and can be assembled in various ways. Back in the day, these came in the ancient GW blisterpacks with a random assortment of bits needed to make a complete model.
~Which ones are your favorite models and who is still rocking some of these on the tabletop?
